Richard Glover (poet)
Richard Glover (1712 - 25 November 1785) was an English poet and politician. Life Ovreview Glover was a London merchant, and member of Parliament for Weymouth. He had the reputation of a useful and public-spirited citizen. A scholarly man with a taste for literature, he wrote 2 poems in blank verse, Leonidas (1737), and The Athenaid (1787). Though not without a degree of dignity, they want energy and interest, and are now forgotten. He also produced a few dramas, which had little success. He is best remembered by his beautiful ballad, "Hosier's Ghost," beginning "As near Portobello lying."John William Cousin, "Glover, Richard," A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, 1910, 160. Web, Jan. 18, 2018. Youth Glover was born in St. Martin's Lane, Cannon Street, in 1712, the son of Richard Glover, a Hamburg merchant in London. He was educated at Cheam in Surrey. In 1728 a poem upon Sir Isaac Newton, written by him in his 16th year, was prefixed to A View of Newton's Philosophy, by Henry Pemberton, M.D.Stephen, 6. Career Glover entered his father's business, but continued his poetical efforts, and became, according to Warton, a good Greek scholar. In 1737 he published Leonidas, an epic poem in blank verse and in 9 books. It went through 4 editions. Glover republished it, enlarged to 12 books, in 1770. 2 later editions appeared in 1798 and 1804; and it has been translated into French (1738) and German (1766). It was taken as a poetical manifesto in the interests of Walpole's antagonists. He married Hannah Nunn, a lady of property, 21 May 1737, and had 2 sons by her, but was divorced in 1756. A son, Richard Glover, was M.P. for Penryn, In 1739 Glover published London; or, The progress of commerce, also in blank verse; and his still readable ballad, "Hosier's Ghost," referring to the unfortunate expedition of Admiral Hosier in 1726. It was spirited enough to survive the immediate interest due to the "Jenkins's ear" excitement, and was republished in Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. Glover opposed the nomination of a partisan of Walpole as lord mayor, and in 1742 took part in one of the assaults upon the falling minister. The lord mayor, Sir Robert Godschall, presented a petition signed by 300 merchants, and drawn up by Glover (20 January), complaining of the inadequate protection of British commerce, and Glover afterwards attended to sum up their evidence before the House of Commons. His fame as a patriot was recognised in the Duchess of Marlborough's will. She died in 1744, leaving 500l. apiece to Glover and Mallet to write the duke's life. He refused to undertake the task, although he is said to have been in difficulties. He was a proprietor at this time of the Temple Mills, near Marlow. Although intimate with Lyttelton, Cobham, and others, he got nothing by their political victory. In 1751 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the office of chamberlain of the city of London. He lost a patron by the death of Frederick, prince of Wales, who is said to have sent him "a complete set of all classics, elegantly bound," and at another time 500l. He now tried the stage, and wrote Boadicea, performed at Drury Lane for 9 nights in December 1753, and praised in a pamphlet by his old admirer, Pemberton. In 1761 he published Medea, a tragedy on the Greek model, not intended for the stage, but thrice acted for Mrs. Yates's benefit (1767, 1768, and 1776). He also presented to Mrs. Yates a continuation called Jason, which was never acted, but published in 1799. Glover's affairs improved, and in 1761 he was returned to parliament for Weymouth, doubtless through the interest of his friend, Bubb Dodington, who enlisted him in support of Bute. His only recorded speech was on 13 May 1762, when he opposed a subsidy to Portugal, and was answered by Pitt. He is said to have supported George Grenville, but did not sit after the dissolution of 1768. He took a prominent part in arranging the affairs of Douglas, Heron, & Co., whose failure in 1762 made a great sensation; and appeared twice before committees of the House of Commons to sum up evidence as to commercial grievances (1774 and 1775). His statements were published, and on the last occasion he received a piece of plate worth 300l. from the West India merchants in acknowledgment of his services,Stephen, 7. His will mentions property in the city of London, in South Carolina, and in Kent, where he was lord of the manor of Down. He died at his house in Albemarle Street, 25 November 1785. A 2nd wife survived him. Writing Leonidas was praised by Lord Lyttelton in a periodical paper called Common Sense, and by Fielding in the Champion. Pemberton extolled its merits in a pamphlet called Observations on Poetry, especially epic, occasioned by … Leonidas, 1738. His ponderous Athenaid, an epic poem in 30 books, was published in 1787 by his daughter, Mrs. Halsey. It is much longer and so far worse than 'Leonidas,' but no one has been able to read either for a century. A diary called Memoirs by a Distinguished Literary and Political Character Glover from the resignation of Sir Robert Walpole in 1742 to the establishment of Lord Chatham's second administration in 1757 was published in 1813 (by R. Duppa v.) It was followed in 1814 by An Inquiry concerning the Author of the Letters of Junius, also by Duppa, who convinced himself but nobody else that Junius was Glover. The Memoirs are of little value, though they contribute something to our knowledge of the political intrigues of the time. Critical introduction by Thomas Arnold Glover was a man of considerable powers, but he was stronger on the side of politics and practical life than in the field of literature. In his poems the rhetoric of party warfare is more conspicuous than the inspiration of genius. His best-known poem, Leonidas, was based it is true on his reading of Herodotus and Plutarch; but in reality it is the utterance of one who wished to stir his fellow-citizens to an anti-Walpole ‘patriotic’ policy. So far as the form is concerned it may be called a blank-verse echo of Pope’s version of Homer, the influence of which may continually be traced; and under the inspiration of this model Glover expands the few simple chapters of his authority Herodotus into the dimensions of an epic by inventing various characters, love-affairs, and thrilling episodes. Campbell remarks that the want of ‘impetuosity of progress’ is the chief fault in the poem. It does not seem clear that this censure is just. The action moves on swiftly enough, and is sufficiently varied by epoch-making or decorative incidents. The personages introduced are not inactive, or long-winded; they have only the damning fault of being dull. The reader does not much care what they do, nor what becomes of them. A sort of glossy rhetoric is the general characteristic of the poem, which accordingly is not without striking passages, but the lack of human interest mars the total effect. Campbell was nearer the mark when, after observing that Glover does not make his pictures grotesque by introducing modern accessories and details, he added,—‘but his purity is cold, his heroes are like outlines of Grecian faces, with no distinct or minute physiognomy.’ In agreement with this line of criticism, Southey describes Leonidas as ‘cold and bald, stately rather than strong in its best parts, and in general rather stiff than stately.’ The terseness which Glover, writing about Spartans, affected, made him often pile a number of short abrupt sentences one upon the other; hence the stiffness and baldness of which Southey complains. Thus we read in Book xii:— ‘On living embers these are cast. So wills Leonidas. The phalanx then divides. Four troops are form’d, by Dithyrambus led, By Alpheus, by Diomedon. The last Himself conducts. The word is given. They seize The burning fuel.’ The conclusion, where Leonidas, after performing impossible feats of valor and slaughter, dies without a word, rather of exhaustion than of wounds, exhibits an uninteresting flatness, which Glover, who knew Virgil well, and must have noted how wonderfully effective are the last words of Dido, Turnus, Pallas, and Mezentius, ought sedulously to have avoided. Of the Athenaid, a sequel to Leonidas, with its thirty books, it is enough to say that it is simply unreadable. It appears to be a florid reproduction, with new incidents and scenery, of the story of the Græco-Persian war, from Thermopylæ to Platæa. The opposition to Sir Robert Walpole found in Glover an enthusiastic ally. One of his chief objects in writing London is said to have been to exasperate the public mind against Spain, a power to which Walpole was held to have truckled. In the same year, after the news came of Vernon’s success at Porto Bello, Glover wrote the spirited ballad of "Hosier’s Ghost," rather perhaps with the design of damaging Walpole than exalting Vernon. The political aim interests us no more; but the music and swing of the verse,— perhaps also the naval cast of the imagery and the diction,— will keep this ballad popular with Englishmen for many a year to come.from Thomas Arnold, "Critical Introduction: Richard Glover (1712–1785)," The English Poets: Selections with critical introductions (edited by Thomas Humphry Ward). New York & London: Macmillan, 1880-1918. Web, Feb. 23, 2016. Publications Poetry *''Leonidas: A poem''. London: R. Dodsley, 1737 **expanded 6th edition, London: : T. Cadell, Richardson & Urquhart, 1770. *''London; or, The progress of commerce''. London: T. Cooper, 1739. *''Poems''. London: 1743. *''The Athenaid: A poem''. London: T. Cadell, 1787. *''The Poetical Works''. London: J. Wright, 1800. *''The Poetical Works'' (edited by Thomas Park). London: J. Sharpe, 1806. *''The Poems of Richard Glover''. Chiswick, UK: Press of C. Whittingham, 1822. Plays *''Boadicia: A tragedy''. London: R. & J. Dodsley, & M. Cooper, 1753. *''Medea: A tragedy''. London: H. Woodfall for J. Hinxman, 1762. *''Jason: A tragedy, in five acts''. London: J. Debrett, 1799. Non-fiction *''A Short Account of the Application to Parliament Made by the Merchants of London: Upon the neglect of their trade''. London: London: J. Osborn, 1751. *''The Substance of the Evidence on the Petition Presented by the West-India Planters and Merchants to the Hon. House of commons''. London: H.S. Woodfall for T. Cadell, 1775. *''Memoirs by a celebrated literary and political character''. London: John Murray, 1813. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Richard Glover, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Feb. 23, 2016. See also *List of British poets References * . Wikisource, Web, Jan. 18, 2017. * * Notes External links ;Poems *Glover in The English Poets: An anthology: [http://www.bartleby.com/337/689.html Polydorus and Maron (from Leonidas, IX)], "Ballad of Admiral Hosier's Ghost" *Richard Glover at PoemHunter (30 poems) ;About *Richard Glover" in the [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition|1911 Encyclopædia Britannica]] * Glover, Richard Category:1712 births Category:1785 deaths Category:English poets Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Category:People educated at Cheam School Category:English male poets